THE town of Spennymoor with a population of 20,500 has recently advertised for a new town clerk.

Until I read the advert, I hadn’t realised how important and major a town Spennymoor is, as the salary for the new town clerk certainly implies that it must be.

Plainly running the council budget of £1.8m (less than the budget of many local schools) must be difficult, as the new town clerk would also lead a team of 23 officers to manage the budget and the team’s responsibilities.

The advertised salary for the town clerk for a 37-hour week is between more than £58,000 rising up to almost £66,000 with a pay award pending.

This compares to other pay packages for town clerks in the UK ranging from about £25,000 (depending upon hours and type of council) to £68,000 at the top end for larger councils.

The average pay package for town clerks is around £40,000. I wonder how many other North East town councils employ town clerks on a salary similar to that of Spennymoor which has to be at the top end of council size and budget to justify the advertised salary for its new town clerk.

It must rank as an important town council amongst all the town councils in the country.

But is it? I didn’t think it was.

Yet it must be, as how else could such a generous salary possibly make sense?

Ian Thompson, Spennymoor